Henrietta Sees it Through

JOYCE DENNYS was born 14th August 1893 in India. The Dennys family relocated to England in 1896. Dennys enjoyed drawing lessons throughout her schooling and later enrolled at Exeter Art School. In 1919 Dennys married Tom Evans, a young doctor, and they moved to Australia. While living in New South Wales, Dennys's work was constantly in print and exhibited in many galleries. In 1922 Joyce became a mother and moved back to England. Her drawing took second place to the domestic and social duties of a doctor's wife and mother and she became increasingly frustrated. She voiced her frustrations through the character of Henrietta, a heroine she created for an article for Sketch. Henrietta was to become so important to Dennys that she once remarked, 'When I stopped doing the piece after the war, I felt quite lost. Henrietta was part of me. I never quite knew where I ended and she began.' These letters were later compiled to form Henrietta's War, first published by Andre Deutsch in 1985.

'I haven't smirked, giggled and laughed out loud at a book so much in quite sometime. A perfect and delightful book' Savidge Reads 'I haven't read anything so funny for many years. They rank alongside E M Delafield's The Diary Of A Provincial Lady, and George and Weedon Grossmiths' The Diary of A Nobody' Susan Hill, Good Housekeeping 'Anyone who wants to get the feel of the period must read these short letters' Daily Telegraph 'Dennys writes in simple, elegant prose about garden parties and elderly colonels, about flighty young women and daunting, tweedy ladies avid to repel the invader with their own hands; and the comedy she describes is embellished by little drawings as accomplished as her prose' Irish Times